The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1887-03-18
STAGE IMMORTALITY.
Extracts From "a Magazine Article by
Fanny Davenport.


Fanny Davenport.
All arts, all professions are more gener-
ously treated (perhaps l should say have
been) than the stage. Its detractors are
legion. Few seem to have thought for
themselves upon the subject; all appear
cramped and enveloped in the opinions Of
others. Daily We hear the question, SIS
the stage immoral ?" and upon this subject
have been tempted to fly to the ink bot
tie and put upon paper my humble opin-
ions. Is the stage immoral? No, Are
those upon the stage immoral? Some are,
perhaps, as in every other calling or art
ed for the sins of the few That the stage
breeds immortality | most emphatically
deny. That vicious person will develop
vice as quickly i'll other professions | am
not prepared to say, but that there is less
real immortality upon the stage than in
many other callings have no hesitation in
saying
Certain it is that if an actress works
eonse:entiously during the time she is in
the theatre she has no time either for silly
nothings. dissipation or nonsense. No one
who has won name and fame honestly and
possesses talent could retain either if her
nights were passed in dissipation and her
days in bed. We have living instances of
the youth and enduring talent in good,
pure lives before us to-day. People say:
GLOW wonderfully young she looks for
her years. isn't she a marvelr' why,
she is not day over twenty When you
hear these remarks, believe me, they imply
true praise, and bespeak pure, good life.
believe that why the stage is called
immoral is because those that call it so are
ignorant of it. If the foundation. progress
sion and gradual development of the stage
and drama were taught in schools, as other
branches of history are notwithstanding
all the good that has been in ito the
pupils, and showing how its light has been
a steady one, shining forth through all these
years, enlightening, amusing and cultiya-
ting-if this were done time would soon
efiace bigotry, and the habit of eondemna-
ton would grow less and less, and the
stage would be judged as other arts and
eallings are judged.
Let the drama second the efforts OF the
pulpit, and it will be found an active and
ally in the cause of virtue.
1t is the public who can do this. Let
these who are all-powerful resent vice and
drive it from the stage. As in your
churches you would not entertain guilt, so
in the theatre condemn it, not by SANDER
and talk, but by acts, which ever speak
the loudest That the stage has defects,
crying ones, frankly admit; but they are
not irremediable; they disgrace, but can
not destroy the trunk
How few to-day know of Rachel save as
the great actress All think her to have
been selfish, misery, and immoral! Sell
fish? Listen to the last few lines of let
ter written by her, and now before me.
unfortunate man, He leaves four child
feD, aud had the courage or the coyarlice
to die. Find out where the children are.
l wish to send them 500 francs, the pro-
ducts Of last nights performance. ! feel
sad and depressed over it all. Again
when She felt that all hope was over, she
says at the end of almost her last letter:
''But no, | will find my two guardian an
gels, my blessed sons. | hear their dear
voices calling me. | have been too long
away from their caresses. their kisses,
their love. do not regret the money lost,
the fatigue have undergone; | have car
red my name as far as | could, and
bring my heart to those love dearly
She said of the stage ''AIv calumniators
did not succeed in making me immoral.
God loved me. since lie gave me children.
The Justice of God is greater toward
weak mortals than the justice of men. l
do not fear Him. Again: God protects
the brave. and He seems to have created
for me expressly a little corner unnamed
on any map, where | can forget troubles
and fatignes-my home in my children S
hearts, These letters show us the wo-
man, loving and true.
There is as much, if not more, real
honor, purity, domestic happiness, and
charity in the dramatic profession than
even its best friends in their most generous
moments give it credit for We're the
good in it cited oftener, the little bad would
soon sink into oblivion. Believe me. no
living soul is as bad as it is reported. and
when an unjust, cruel thing is said OF an
artist, LET us not repeat it, but remember
that the penalty Of 4 public life is to be
traduced. Let us seek for some good
thing the person has done or said, and by
ventilating that, the memory of the blow
viii be forgotten, leaving not the faintest
bruise behind it.--FanDy Dacenpo4, in
Brooklyn Kdqd-iHe.